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->''"No man can be a pure specialist without being in the strict sense an idiot."''-->-- '''Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw'''

Under virtually all circumstances, they seem to be so stupid and [[NoSocialSkills socially awkward]] that they likely have a mental disorder. But put them in the right kind of situation, and they'll demonstrate outstanding brilliance.

Mathematics (or a certain area of it) is a common area for Savant skills to show up. A few such people in real life are amazingly gifted at calendar-based calculations. Give them a specific date and they can tell you in seconds what day of the week it was or will be. Intuitive mathematical calculations, such as multiplication of large numbers or the identification of primes, also occur. Non-mathematical abilities include precocious musical ability, including perfect pitch and intuitive ability to play an instrument; unusual artistic ability, especially the ability to draw anything after having seen it once; prodigious feats of memory, such as memorizing entire books or a million digits of pi; or even the ability to learn a new language in a week.

When Hollywood uses Savant characters, the most frequent talent the character will have will be something to do with mathematics.

The term "Idiot Savant" is actually outdated, since the term "idiot" itself is no longer a medical term. The term "savant syndrome" is more correct. It refers to someone--usually someone with a developmental disorder, often autism--who has one or sometimes more extremely high abilities that are disproportionate to their normal level of functioning. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savant_syndrome The other wiki]] has more information.

TheRainman is a SubTrope in which the mental disorder is autism or [[AmbiguousDisorder something similar]]. See also GeniusDitz when the person has stupidity outside his field of expertise rather than a mental disorder. All three tropes can be confused with SeeminglyProfoundFool. Compare/contrast BunnyEarsLawyer, who is functioning properly despite a few quirks. Also contrast SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining, where the person may have no particular mental condition but has focused on one (or a few) skills at the cost of everything else.

'''This trope is about people with an actual mental disorder. If the character is simply ditzy, then that's GeniusDitz.'''

----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]* Sasha in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. She's a BigEater who's so stupid that she doesn't even understand that eating a stolen potato in front of her commanding officer is a bad thing, believes that people who give her food are gods, and goes so far as to steal food directly from her superiors and show it off to her peers. Still, she is fantastic with a blade and even better with a bow, and one of the most effective combatants against the Titans. When she's not being distracted by food, at least.* Komugi of ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' can really not do anything at all, due in part to her blindness, general SelfDeprecation and the belief hammered into her by her parents that if she ever lost a game of Gungi ever, she is nothing more than trash... but she is quite literally undefeatable at Gungi to make up for this, being able to lead and control a game of it hundreds of moves ahead of her opponents and always increasing her skill with every match, making anyone she fights completely unable to catch up to her no matter how hard they try.%% * [[Manga/SoutenKouro Xu Chu]] can predict the weather based on the moon's phases. Xu Chu doesn't know that there's only one moon.%%%% Is this actual mental disability, or just ditziness?%%%%%% * Stella Loussier of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' is a BrokenBird with mental damage and emotional stunting so severe that she arguably counts as mentally handicapped. Put her behind the controls of a Gundam though, and slaughter ensues.%%%% "Arguably?" Examples are not arguable. I don't know the work, so I'm not sure if she's just ditzy or actually mentally ill.%%%%* Mashiro Shiina in ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'' is an internationally famous painter by high school age, but she clearly has zero skills in anything else--she doesn't know how to put on her shoes, or that she has to pay for items in a store, etc, etc, together with a long list of oddities (like NoSocialSkills or [[EmotionlessGirl having a flat affect]]) to the point that the speculation of her being autistic has became a WordOfDante.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]* ''Film/RainMan'': Raymond suffers from extreme autism and is usually restricted to a home. However, he has savant abilities with numbers, allowing him to count with lightning speed, do complex calculations in his head, and count cards. * The main character of ''Film/ForrestGump'', particularly with things that require speed (running, loading weapons, ping-pong, etc) in combination with an extreme, single-minded concentration. This was actually toned down from the book.* The ''Film/{{Cube}}'' film series:** The first ''Cube'' has Kazan, a severely mentally handicapped man who, to the rest of the people trapped in the Cube, is a nuisance at first, constantly banging his head against the walls, making weird honking noises and babbling about gumdrops. But later on it's discovered that he could find the prime factors of huge numbers in his head, and he ends up as their savior. ** In ''Film/CubeZero'', this is creepily hinted at with [[spoiler:Wynn]] as having become this at the end. He's lobotomized, thrown back in the Cube, and found by some other prisoners, mirroring Kazan's introduction. The last shot of the film settles on his tapping fingers as a computer interface is softly heard in the background...* White from ''Anime/TekkonKinkreet'' plays this trope straight. He saves Black's life, perhaps more then once, and is eerily perceptive about some of the people around him: at the same time, he can't tie his own shoes or dress himself without help.* Zen, star of the Thai film ''Film/{{Chocolate}}'' is an autistic girl and [[ActionGirl martial]] [[WaifFu arts]] [[LittleMissBadass savant]].* ''Film/MercuryRising'' centers on an autistic child who can intuitively decipher top military ciphers, and a police officer who can convey character with a silent telegenic stare.* The film ''Film/TheWizard'' features a young autistic boy who is fantastic at video games.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]* Ton Ton in the novel ''Literature/HouseOfTheScorpion'' has trouble speaking and is regarded as a dumb ox by his peers, but can work almost any machine.* Beak in ''Literature/ReapersGale'', book seven of ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', has an incredible natural magical ability that would've put him on the fast track to High Mage rank, if not for a combination of AmbiguousDisorder, childhood traumas and a Film/{{Forrest Gump}}ish mental state -- which combine to give him NoSocialSkills and a mental handicap in understanding the world around him unless it has to do with magic. Even that he simplifies to a great degree. While other mages see magic as a complicated net of cause and effect, Beak simply sees differently coloured candles. And while other rmages can use one, maybe two of the [[FunctionalMagic Paths of Magic]], Beak can use ''all of them''. The other mages usually take a whiff of his magical potential, hear him babbling on about something and just give him a hug before they walk away crying.* One book in the ''Literature/BabySittersClub'' series had Kristy sitting for a girl with autism. The girl, Susan, was mostly non-verbal and was generally not able to take care of herself, but was a brilliant piano player AND could do the "identify the day of the week" calendar trick.* [[TheBerserker Adus]] of ''Literature/TheElenium'' is an [[AxeCrazy evil]] [[TheBrute example]]. A mentally handicapped, barbaric savage, Adus can barely speak, doesn't bathe, is almost illiterate, and frequently eats raw meat. He's also a combat savant, with a talent not only for physical fighting, but small unit tactics. Give him an [[AnAxeToGrind axe]] and a manageable number of troops, and no one is more dangerous.* [[TheBigGuy Steapa Snotor]] of ''Literature/TheSaxonStories'' is so stupid that he's nicknamed "[[IronicNickname The Clever]]", and is reckoned by the hero to be completely lacking in imagination. He is uneducated, illiterate, and can spend hours wrapping his head around the simplest of situations. The exception to this is on the battlefield, where he is both a terrifying warrior and an extremely capable commander. Alfred the Great, a man who admires only learning and otherwise only trusts literate and intelligent men, promotes Steapa to command of his personal guard, which frequently means effective command of his entire army.* In ''Literature/MySweetAudrina'' by Creator/VCAndrews, Audrina's sister Sylvia is born with a severe intellectual disability which means that she can't speak, walk properly, close her mouth or control her bodily functions. Despite this, she is presented as preternaturally wise and has powers of telepathy which allow her to communicate with Audrina, ultimately leading to her coming up with a very clever solution to [[spoiler:save the comatose Audrina from Vera, who was about to switch off Audrina's life support machine.]]* ''Literature/TheTommyknockers'': smart enough to create DC-powered anti-gravity, dumb enough to never think of buying an AC-DC converter so they don't have to power it with batteries.* Irene from ''Literature/MaloryTowers'' is forgetful and scatterbrained to a hilarious degree (often forgetting the classes she should be in and the like), but the narrative never fails to mention that she's also a genius in both music and maths.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]* On ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' there's a throwaway gag in one episode in which Shawn refers to himself as one after revealing he can speak French. This was during the period in the show where he got really dumb, which didn't stick as a character trait so this is never brought up again.* In ''ARG/TheLostExperience'', the Hanso Foundation uses autistic savants as human computers in the basement of a mental hospital.* "Coach" Ernie Pantusso in ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' is implied to be TheDitz due to head injuries, but he's also a geography expert, even making up mnemonic songs about countries.* One episode of ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' featured a very Rain-Man-like autistic savant character, right down to being able to count spilled toothpicks quickly and accurately. He was employed by a courier company to help track packages with missing or damaged bar-codes, and when he was off work, they had to bring in at least ten people to do his job.* Kyle in ''Series/AllTheSmallThings'' displays symptoms of high-functioning autism, being unable to relate to most people, saying very little, and [[LiteralMinded speaking literally when he speaks at all]]. However, he's a superb singer and guitarist.* Rom, a recurring Ferengi on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', goes far beyond basic idiocy. Somehow he is an extremely capable engineer and at one point, even able to spout technobabble on the level of Spock and Data. His skills seem to have been honed by the Ferengi's natural skill with mathematics and the years working as Quark's personal repairman for anything and everything.%%* In ''Series/That70sShow'' Kelso is able to perfectly calculate how much money they'd make from a Kegger in relation to how many people showed up and paid for beer.%%%% You seem to be missing the "idiot" part. How does it apply?%%%%* One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' had a suspect that could do quantum physics but couldn't remember a grocery list.%% * Brittany on ''Series/{{Glee}}'' is a naive, child-like idiot, but she knows ''everything'' about cat diseases and is one of the best dancers on the show and got early acceptance to MIT because she has "the greatest mathematical mind ever".%%%% How naive and childlike? Is she mentally disabled, or just ditzy?%%%%* Paisley from ''Series/ANTFarm'' can't read or remember her name, but she can build a functioning helicopter complete with rope ladder out of balloons, which she can also make into a pony complete with ''functioning internal organs''.* Patrick, Series/{{House}}'s patient of the week played by Music/{{Dave Matthews| Band}} in season 3's ''Half-Wit'' was this due to a car accident he was in as a kid. He couldn't even button his own shirt, yet he was a brilliant pianist despite never having practiced it.* ''Series/TheTick2001''. While he was always a ditz, the live-action television series plays up his ditzy traits so much that he seems barely capable of functioning in society. Notably, he doesn't even know his own real name or where he's from, he can't recognize other superheroes when they're out of costume (the other characters might have trouble at first, but The Tick never picks up on it even when it's explained to him), and at first doesn't even know what death is. When it comes to heroics, however, he's a genius: he's an expert fighter and shows a decent amount of philosophical thought. Notably, when he did discover that everyone (even potatoes) can die, he spent about 30 seconds thinking about it before giving Arthur a motivating speech that ''actually makes sense.''* Melvin Potter in ''Series/Daredevil2015'' is childlike and unintelligent, but a savant when it comes to making armored combat suits. He takes an authoritative tone when he's in his element, but is childlike the rest of the time.-->'''Leland Owlsley''': He's half an idiot.-->'''Wilson Fisk''': It's the other half that counts.** This element is dropped from him in season 2 as he's much more mature, no doubt the result of Fisk no longer being there to pressure him.* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': "Dead End Street" features a woman who is almost mute and regarded as an 'imbecile' (in the parlance of the era), but has total recall and a phenomenal ability in making models. When she makes a scale model of her street with a tiny figure holding a rifle at the window, Murdoch realises she has witnessed a murder and reconstructed it in the model. However, because she cannot distinguish faces, Murdoch has no way of identifying the figure at the window and has to work out a means of communicating with her to discover what she knows.* Reese from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''. He is the dumbest person on the show but he is a genius in the kitchen and very naturally gifted. One example is him making an entire dinner for his family with a little help from Piama, Francis's wife, but he can't find the oven mitts. He then grabs the turnkey dish ''with his bare hands fresh out of the oven'' and tells Paima to move the oven mitts. [[/folder]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]* ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'' shows Bucky to be one multiple times. The most famous example is when he fixed Satchel's broken watch. When Rob presses Bucky on how he knew how to fix a watch (remember, we're talking about a cat who thinks Chunky Munky contains ''actual monkey''), Bucky responds that he just kinda...did.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling]]* WWE once featured a wrestler called [[Wrestling/NickDinsmore Eugene]] who was billed as an idiot savant. He was mentally and socially way below the norm, but his wrestling abilities were pretty good, including pulling off numerous classical moves from the old days of pro-wrestling.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The Primordials are often referred to by fans and writers alike as idiot savants. This is directly enshrined in their powers; when acting within their defining themes, even the basic abilities of a Primordial are transcendentally incredible. In any area outside of their themes, they are utterly hopeless. The relevance of these matters is a bit bigger considering that they are [[EldritchAbomination the immense and barely comprehensible Titans who forged the world and created all mortal and godly races]]; since those tended to be group efforts, the Primordials were never really fully capable of grasping the consequences or possibilities of their creations. It did not work out well for them. ** However, [[EraSpecificPersonality this only applies to the period]] from ''Manual of Exalted Power: Infernals'' to the end of second edition. Outside of that period, they're still portrayed as vast and barely comprehensible, but they're not idiot savants.* The Jokaero of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' are basically space Orangutans, in both appearance and intellect. Yet somehow, they are also mechanical craftsmen par-excellance. [[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]* The RPG ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' allowed the player to take 'Idiot Savant' as a character trait. It gave a bonus to intelligence and gambling skills, but speech was limited to HulkSpeak.* Sandal, from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', is a savant when it comes to enchanting weapons. However, if you talk to him all he'll say is "Enchantment!" and "Enchantment?", probably owing to the amount of [[ToxicPhlebotinum lyrium]] he's been exposed to. (Although the sequel reveals he is able to speak, he's just shy and inarticulate.) In the final dungeon at the end of the game you also encounter him alone, covered in blood, and surrounded by heaps of slain monster corpses. So he would appear to be a bit of a savant when it comes to combat as well.--> '''Warden:''' "You're surrounded by darkspawn corpses! What happened here?"--> '''Sandal:''' "Enchantment!"* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a DLC side mission where Shepard takes on a rogue Virtual Intelligence that has melded to the mind of the project lead's autistic brother David. Through a series of holograms projected from the David's mind, Shepard learns that not only was he a math genius, but he could actually imitate the geth language so accurately that the deactivated geth would respond to it. He's also shown calculating square roots in his head when stressed. Shepard remembers one of those square roots and uses it as a TrustPassword in the third game when he meets David again, who is under attack by Cerberus:--> '''David''': The square root of 906.01 equals—\\'''Shepard''': 30.1. * The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' NPC Algernon is an idiot savant with a talent of fiddling with guns and upgrading them. The poor guy lives in New Reno, a city controlled by mobsters, and lacks the character and social acumen to hold his own there, so an unscrupulous gun shop owner hides him in his basement and makes him work for food. If the player character kills said owner, Algernon will help them with their guns for free.* One of the Luck perks in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' is ''named'' this. It gives the player a random chance of getting hugely multiplied experience points from any action, said chance being higher the lower their intelligence is. Every time you get the boost Nate/Nora makes a goofy sound or laughs while a RimShot and a boink sound play along.* Muddy from ''Hoosegow'' is an inept criminal whose plans inevitably fail. However, when the player character reads a religious pamphlet describing a beast with twelve horns, sixteen stalks on each horn and eighty eyes on each stalk, Muddy immediately asks why it would need 291,840 eyes.-->'''Player character:''' What? Are you kidding me? How could you figure that out?\\'''Muddy:''' Don't rightly know. Just something I do. Same way as I know there's 69,105 railroad ties between here and Muskogee. Ma said I was some kind of idiot savage.* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the [[DivineParentage Demiprinces]], a form of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent lesser Daedra]] born from the union of a [[HalfHumanHybrid Daedra and a mortal]]. Their dual nature gives them an ''odd'' [[CloudCuckoolander perception of the world and time itself]]. In addition to their eccentricities, Demiprinces have an extremely difficult time maintaining knowledge which lies outside their spheres of influence. However, they are the ''[[BunnyEarsLawyer undisputed masters]]'' of whatever lies within their spheres.* Max Hass, a [[GentleGiant gigantic]] ManChild who can only [[PokemonSpeak say his own name]] due to having a third of his skull missing, proves to be this in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus''. With Wyatt, [[spoiler: he points out a paragraph in an ancient manuscript written by the Da'at Yichud to help him find the information he was seeking]]. While this might have been blind luck, he later beats [[TheSmartGuy Set]] at [[SmartPeoplePlayChess a game of chess]], sending Set into a RapidFireNo before [[RageQuit he flips the board and storms off]]... Max just quietly takes out a paper and starts coloring on the now-vacant table. And said coloring is eventually revealed [[spoiler: to be part of a larger mural on Max's wall depicting Klaus, his foster-father who had died in the first game]].[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Animation]]* Goku from ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' puts virtually all his brainpower towards fighting. Hence why he's good at fighting and fighting-related analysis (accurately and deeply explaining why Trunk's newer and bulkier form is bad by giving him power but makes him too slow to make good on the meager upgrade), and near-brain dead stupid at everything else. He is implied to have suffered brain damage as a child.* From ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': Loco (the Caboose counterpart among the Blues and Reds) is just as stupid as Caboose is, but is somehow able to construct advanced machinery out of simple materials. All of his inventions look utterly ridiculous but they work quite well.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]* Ethan in ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'', emphasis on [[TooDumbToLive idiot]] (he thinks the best way to deal with paperwork is to KillItWithFire). He claims he's intelligent for only a few seconds a day and created two [[SnarkyNonhumanSidekick intelligent robots]] without fully understanding how, since the only plans he could find were scribbled in sauce on a restaurant menu. [[spoiler: When one of them needs to be fixed, he gives a very technical explanation why he can't do it. The next strip shows him wearing all his winter clothes instead of, y'know, putting them on a chair or something because he needed the storage space.]][[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]* Jeffy from ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' had a difficult time fitting a star block into a square hole, yet was able to paint the Mona Lisa on an Easter egg, and make almost uncannily accurate chicken noises. He even said his ABC's backwards. And in "Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Part 6", he somehow caught [[Series/SesameStreet Cookie Monster]] in a Pokéball and taught him Thunderbolt.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The male Simpsons can be classified as this at their worst. While being born smart, a gene causes that to deteoriate. However, both Homer and Bart have displayed excellent skills in multiple languages (Homer once speaking ''penguin''). To say nothing of musical talent. Bart showed great skill with the drums, and Homer has repeatedly shown himself to be capable at anything - literally anything - connected to music. Two hit bands, several successful songs both with those bands and independently - he even shows incredible skill as a music manager, for both Lurleen Lumpkin and Lisa.%% * Iqbal in ''WesternAnimation/BromwellHigh'' is quite the libertine. He paints in his spare time (although has trouble selling his paintings), can memorize an encyclopedia, works a bit of amateur theater into staff meetings and assemblies, and can dance and sing.%%%% You seem to be missing the "idiot" part. How does it apply?%%%%* It's never directly addressed, but in ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe'', Metalhead, Destro's lackey, is one of the dumbest characters around, but can apparently do complex artillery calculations for his rockets in his head. He also has one of the best accuracy rates of any Joe or Cobra, mostly because he only fires at vehicles.* Subverted when Charmcaster calls Gwen Tennyson this exact name in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', referring to Gwen's incredible but self-taught magical powers. "I've trained in magic my whole life, and you just pick up my spell book and you're instantly out-magicking me. You're not a ''real'' sorceress, you're an idiot savant." Gwen is a more realistic version of a TeenGenius and likely knows what an idiot savant is. Charmcaster was insulting her out of envy for her natural talent (due to being part anodite, a being of pure mana, the substance of magic).* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' when the gang play laser tag and talk about how Peter is amazing at it, all while he's rolling on the ceiling and other crazy stunts.-->'''Joe:''' Alright, keep an eye out for Peter, he's oddly competitive at this stuff.\\'''Quagmire:''' Yeah, he seems to be weirdly physically fit at this place.\\'''Brian:''' Yeah, it's almost like he has unrealistic abilities when we play laser tag.* Fry in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is this; it turns out is a naturally-talented composer, at least for the Holophoner, though he lacks the dexterity to actually play it properly. In ''The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings'', he switches his hands with the Robot Devil's and becomes an overnight musical sensation. This may be a result of his strange mind due to [[spoiler: being his own grandfather.]][[/folder]]